I’m back, and feeling somewhat behind on my writing projects, but I had a wonderful time overseas! (And up north too.) If you missed me, I left signed books in many places I visited. I’ll post a full list below, but do want to give special mention to the Sentry Box in Calgary—who kindly sponsored my Magic draft at When Words Collide—where I hid one of the very last Szeth punch-out figures I have! All of the books they have there are signed, with prizes inside, but one copy of Words of Radiance has the Szeth card. Thank you, Calgary, for a wonderful reception!

The start of this trip was in Avilés, Spain at Celsius 232, where (despite having to fight off Rothfuss fans at every corner) we had a wonderful, and relaxed, convention experience. If you live in Europe, I highly recommend this convention. They were friendly, the weather and scenery were great, and I had a lot of fun. I even worked on a novella on the flight home, much as I did for Legion (written on the flight home from France sevearal years back) and The Emperor’s Soul (done on the flight home from Taiwan). You should see it eventually, though right now I have other projects to get to. (More on that below.)

The next stop was London, at the ever-awesome Forbidden Planet store. I did a new Stormlight reading (if you missed it, Tor posted it here) and afterward headed to a local pub to play a Magic tournament. This one was particularly cool since Wizards of the Coast’s European branch showed up with cards and extra prizes for everyone.

If you’ll indulge me, I want to talk about an epic game we had during this tournament. We played late enough that the pub kicked us out and we headed to my hotel lobby, where I finished up a few games with fans waiting to try their hand against me (and hoping to win one of these cool foil signed cards.)

This was Conspiracy, and I had a really solid [card]Vent Sentinel[/card] control deck. I was dominating the board against the fan, whose name I believe was Jason. (Might be some other J-name. Sorry if I got it wrong!) Well, I was feeling pretty confident and then suddenly, he played [card]Magister of Worth[/card]. This wiped out all creatures, but more importantly, wiped out the little creatures I was using with [card]Secrets of Paradise[/card] to create white mana.

I looked at my hand, which was full of white cards, and made the snap decision to tap one of my guys for mana before they died, then [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card] his Magister. This left us both with completely empty boards, and him with an empty hand.

I was still feeling all right about this. I had almost full life, while he was under ten.

Then, he top-decked a 30/30 [card]Cogwork Grinder[/card], flipped over a conspiracy that gave it haste, and smashed my face. Instant game over. I’d done an okay job of defending the expensive cards Wizards sent (only losing the Foil [card]Brainstorm[/card] so far) but this stomped me flat, and so, I present to you the winner of the foil [card]Dack Fayden[/card].

I went 6–2 for the night, but the two who beat me really earned it. From here, I went on tour up north in the UK for four lovely signings. Signed books with prizes might be remaining in these stores (give them a call): Forbidden Planet London Megastore, (0207 420 3666), Waterstones Liverpool One (0151 709 9820), Waterstones Manchester Deansgate (0161 837 3000), Waterstones Leeds (0113 244 4588), Waterstones Nottingham Bridlesmith Gate (0115 947 0069).

I also managed to find a bookstore during my layover in Amsterdam. I left my signed books, and then this happened:

BrandSanderson Thu Aug 07To my surprise, I found 3 copies of Words of Radiance in the Amsterdam airport. “Books and News” store #121 by the F gates. pic

So, I hiked back and signed his books, fully aware that if I got challenged by an employee, for once I wouldn’t have ID I could show to get myself out of it. I’m pretty sure Joe would have loved it if I’d gotten in trouble.

BrandSanderson Thu Aug 07Okay, @LordGrimdark insisted I go back and sign his books too. So if you are in the Amsterdam airport, here you go. pic

BrandSanderson Thu Aug 07@LordGrimdark I kept thinking, “I’ll bet this is the one time someone catches me and asks me for ID.”

LordGrimdark Thu Aug 07@BrandSanderson And then you could phone me with the security guard and I’d be all, like, Brandon who?

Final stop on this tour was When Words Collide in Calgary, much more of a literary festival than an sf convention—which was really cool. It had a strong writing theme to it, and I was impressed. If you live in western Canada and are an aspiring writer, this con is solid.

Though they don’t do gaming, somehow I ended up at a Magic draft here too. (How does that happen?) Again, thumbs up to the Sentry Box for the cards they sent for everyone.

Now, I get to relax and actually do my job for a few weeks until Salt Lake Comic Con. For those wondering, I’m feeling more and more that I should finish Shadows of Self (the sequel to The Alloy of Law) before digging further into Stormlight 3. There are still some things I want to think about for Stormlight 3, and Mistborn has been neglected lately. I’m planning to work on that, along with Calamity (last of The Reckoners) before launching into the third Stormlight book starting in the spring.

Onward to writing, and another big thanks to those who came out to see me!